What Not Washing Your Makeup Brushes for a Month Looks Like

I'll be very honest with you all right now: I do not wash my makeup brushes nearly as often as I should. While I always clean the tools I use in between doing other people's makeup for our tips and tutorials, I am admittedly far less diligent when it comes to my own brushes and sponges — even though I absolutely know better.

After not cleaning my oft-used beauty tools for an entire month (I know, I know), I decided to wash them at the office so I could teach everyone — myself included — a lesson on how disgusting your brushes can really get.

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For each brush, I wet the bristles with warm water, then massaged in a bit of Real Techniques Gel Brush Cleanser, and squeezed the water into a large bowl. Here's what that bowl looked like after all 12 brushes and one sponge were done:

Yup. That emoji pretty much sums up my reaction.

I cannot believe all of that gunk was in my small batch of brushes. And the really crazy thing is that this is just after a few rinses. In order to get them completely clean, I had to rinse them several more times — so what you see isn't even all the dirt that was lurking inside the set. Yikes!

I try to keep my complexion as clean and clear as possible, so it's disgusting to think that I was basically just massaging all of that grime into my face over and over. So the next time you feel like skipping this important step, remember the not-so-pretty image above. Your brushes (and skin!) will thank you.